Page 20 of Encore
Oh, shit. I was hoping the first time she saw my apartment, I had her all to myself. There were just so many things I wanted to do to her. Then, after I was done, I wanted to play with her hair while she told me every little detail about her.
“I’d love to see your apartment. Nicolai’s cousin mentioned something when he was following Marsden. It sounds like nothing, but I think it’s important. There’s also something I want to talk to you about alone when I get here.”
It felt like my stomach fell out of my butt. When the girl you were into said they wanted to talk to you in private, it usually wasn’t a good thing, especially when she spent the night with two other men the night before.
“Is it a bad conversation? I need to prep myself.”
“Oh, Lilith, I’m not having a breakup conversation with you. It’s a good thing, but it’s between you and me. I can’t thank you enough for being okay with everyone else, but some things don’t need an audience.”
Okay, so it wasn’t a breakup conversation, and I’d steal any alone moments with her that I could, but I was still nervous. And that was fucked up because I usually had oodles of self-confidence about everything.
It didn’t take long for Beyla, Nicolai, and Merlin to get to my apartment. I was just on the next floor. I had to tell Beyla my apartment number because before she came into my life if Merlin or Nicolai knocked on my front door, I probably would have punched them in the face. They would have known I lived in the building because pretty much everyone but Bellatrix and Ivory did. They just wouldn’t have known where.
I let them all in when she knocked. She sat between Bevan and me while we ate our breakfast. Nyx was curled up like a feral cat in one of my chairs with her eggs. It was best to give her space when she was eating. Nicolai and Merlin took my loveseat.
“So, something isn’t making sense to me. Nicolai’s cousin followed Marsden to the salon. He was in there for hours getting his hair dyed, but he was still grey when he came out. Marsden gets paid more than his dancers do, but he’s not rolling in money as artistic director. He’s also a peacock. I’m guessing running a ballet company is also a lot of work, even without this curse going on. Marsden isn’t going to spend three hours of his time and throw money at a salon to have his hair come out the same color as when he came in.”
I could see where Beyla might find that suspicious. Nyx and I tried to stalk her on social media when we found out she was moving in with Nyx. Nyx was just nosy. I was just trying to make sure my best friend wasn’t roommates with a Bellatrix-level psychopath.
All of her accounts were on lockdown, and none of her profile photos were of her. That made me a little suspicious at first. I didn’t particularly like posting endless selfies, and I would have preferred just posting photos of my motorcycle without me sitting on it with a stupid look on my face.
It was a necessary evil. With an endless barrage of big-budget superhero movies and another Batman reboot every year, attracting young people who had never set foot in a ballet studio was increasingly difficult. People thought paying for season tickets to experience the magic of live theatre was too much and preferred to stream it to their televisions.
Sex sold. It always had. Now we all had devices in our pockets to post photos of ourselves half-naked doing mundane things, and people ate it up. Every single person in this room had weaponized their social media, trying to get younger butts in the seats of our theatre. Even Nyx did it in her own way. Nyx had a cult following posting video commentary being mean about popular trends. People loved her.
I had a feeling Beyla’s accounts were the way they were because she was an agent with the bureau. Nevertheless, she accepted my request to follow her and followed me back. Her social media wasn’t even remotely vain.
“It could be something, or it could be nothing,” I said. “I personally haven’t, but they have approached me a few times to partner up with some companies and local businesses. It’s a thing. They give you all this free shit, and you post selfies with it on social media about how much you love it, or you frequent their business and take selfies there. If you do that and get popular, you can make a lot of money from sponsors and ads.”
“You don’t do it?” Nicolai asked. “It’s good money, free stuff, and I don’t have to rob anyone and risk jail.”
Why was I not shocked Nicolai was into that shit? Merlin probably was, too.
“I’mnotgoing to sit there pretending like I have blackheads and some cream was a miracle when I wash my face with regular soap, and it’s perfect,” I growled.
“Oh, my fuck,” Merlin moaned. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say you wash your face with the same soap you use on your body. It’s good money, and you don’thaveto promote anything you don’t actually use and like. I don’t.”
“I don’t either,” Nicolai said. “Everything I promote are things I use.”
“I get that,” Beyla said. “I don’t personally do it, and I made my accounts private as soon as I entered bureau academy, but I know how that stuff works. I get that ballet doesn’t pay well, and many people don’t want to teach on the side for extra cash. Marsden is famous worldwide. He probably has people lining up to sponsor him. So, why would he keep a relationship with a salon that takes three hours to dye his hair, and it doesn’t change the color?”
Well, shit. There were plenty of things about Marsden I would probably never understand. I’d never get him protecting Bellatrix and Ivory while they terrorized the rest of the company. There were plenty of dancers in the company who would never be more than corps dancers. They were excellent dancers, or they wouldn’t be in this company, but they weren’t soloists or lead material.
That wasn’t Nyx. Nyx was the total package as a ballerina. We had goofed off before, and she was easy to partner with. She had a much better range than Bellatrix did, and she was in her prime as a ballerina. There were a good bit of solos inThe Sugar Skull Girl.I wasn’t being mean when I said Marsden had cast people in those roles that weren’t as good as Nyx. She was rotting in the corps again.
One thing Ididknow about Marsden was that he was extremely high maintenance. Even if he used his social media as a business, he’d only work with the best. Marsden demanded perfection from everyone in his life. He did it to us in every rehearsal, and it was the same with the costumes and sets in our performances. He was vain enough to be the same about his hair.
“I agree with Beyla,” I said. “It’s suspicious unless it was his first visit at that salon. The fact is, Marsden is a mystery to all of us. Madame Lucinda said everything about him is what he wants us to see. But unfortunately, we don’t know enough, and all we have right now are guesses.”
“So do I,” Nicolai said. “We should work with what we know. I’ll go get the photos, and we can go through them while throwing out theories about Marsden’s stupid hair. My cousin is still watching him for now. We should probably figure this out soon because if he has to wait that long over hair again, he might stab Marsden.”
“I really don’t want to arrest your cousin, Nicolai. If he’s getting fed up with Marsden, pull him from the job. I guess we’re back to looking at photos. Kaine is still working on everything on his end. Arden, can I borrow you alone for a minute?”
Nicolai and Merlin were smirking like they knew something I didn’t. But they were giving me this look like whatever she was going to say to me was a good thing. They both gave me this slight nod to go with her. My heart was racing, and my brain went in two different directions.
On the one hand, the three of us used to hate each other. Things had been said, and the only reason we hadn’t gotten into a fistfight was that they backed off Nyx. Not that I really didn’t want either of them to give me a reason to punch them in the face. The feeling had been mutual. They hated me, too.
There had been a point in time they would have just loved it to be in the same apartment when my mate rejected me. But that wasn’t how things were now, and Beyla said this wasn’t that conversation. So, I put my big-boy panties on and led her to my bedroom. She dragged me straight to my bed and shoved me on my back so she could snuggle with me. Of course, I wouldn’t say no to that.
